Outline

Objective

The fluorescence of protophorphyrin IX (PpIX) synthesized after incubation with 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-Ala) is used in vivo for intraoperative visualisation of gliomas. A further useful application may be photodynamic therapy (PTD) for local glioma treatment. As a basic requirement for this application, the difference in the fluorescence intensity of tumor cells compared to neurons should be significant.

Methods

To test this hypothesis, eight different human glioma cell lines (LN-18, LN-428, U87MG, U373MG, D247MG, U251MG, LN-308, T98G) were compared with transformed human astrocytes and rat neurons after incubation for different periods of time in vitro with 5-Ala [1 mg/ml]. Fluorescence intensity profiles were measured by a digital camera comparing glioma cell lines with control cells.

Results

All glioma cell lines could be distinguished from neural cells by the intensity of their fluorescence. This was proven by post hoc tests for pairwise comparisons using Tukey's honestly significant difference test, at the global significance level of 5%.